Pro-Palestinian encampment at The New School comes down in deal with admin

NEW YORK — The New School reached a deal on Monday with pro-Palestinian protesters to dismantle a campus encampment in exchange for a vote to divest from Israel.

The investment committee of the downtown Manhattan school’s Board of Trustees will vote on or before June 14 and publicly announce the results and rationale for their decision, according to an announcement to students and faculty. The vote will become binding after full approval of the board.

If approved, The New School, which has about 10,000 students between its undergraduate and graduate degree programs, has to divest within one fiscal quarter and provide updates every few months.

Under consideration is a demand for complete divestment from “industries implicated in military and police violence in Gaza and the West Bank” — such as companies involved in weapons manufacturing, military supplies and equipment, military communication and public surveillance technology — and bring “The New School’s investments in these companies to zero,” university officials said.

A spokeswoman for The New School confirmed Monday the encampment has already been dismantled.

No students or faculty will face disciplinary action for participating in multiple demonstrations at the school, including the original encampment dismantled by the NYPD on May 3 and the faculty-led protest that sprang up in its place, the announcement said.

About eight tents were erected on May 8 inside a New School building, according to a recent tally by The New York Times.

The interim president of the New School, Donna Shalala, will step down by August and be replaced by former Parsons dean Joel Towers.

Across the country, some university officials have been cutting deals with protesters to jettison Gaza solidarity encampments, while others turned to police to clear disruptive demonstrations. In New York City, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik previously announced the institution, where the first tent city that sparked a national movement was pitched, would not divest from Israel.

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